Food insecurity can impair children’s learning and educational progress

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A new study finds that the education of Indian children can suffer when their families struggle to get enough nutritious food.

The study published in Nutrition JournalIt was conducted by the Food Security for a Just Future research team based at Lancaster University, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and University of Barcelona.

food insecurity- ; Difficulties getting enough nutritious food-; It can happen over only a short period of time, or it can be an ongoing family experience, occurring over several months or years.

It can also range from mild food insecurity, such as worrying about where the family will get food, to severe food insecurity, which can include skipping meals, being hungry, or going an entire day without eating due to a lack of money or other resources.

The study found that both persistent and more severe food insecurity were associated with lower test scores and fewer years of schooling completed.

However, overall food insecurity decreased between 2009 and 2016. In 2009, 30.4% of households in the study were food insecure. This number decreased to 24% in 2013, and then increased slightly to 25.8% in 2016.

This study did not cover the period of the Covid-19 pandemic (the period since 2019), and there is strong reason to believe that food insecurity increased during Covid-19.

Food insecurity is associated with many child development outcomes and can negatively affect children’s cognitive, academic, psycho-emotional development.

Although evidence of links between food insecurity and educational outcomes for children is well established in the Global North, it is scant in the Global South.

The paper Children’s Educational Outcomes and the Persistence and Severity of Food Insecurity in India: Longitudinal Evidence from Young Lives fills this gap.

The study is based on data from the 2009, 2012 and 2016 Young Lives Survey for India, which followed the same children over time. The research team examined whether severe and persistent food insecurity was associated with children’s educational outcomes.

These learning outcomes, measured when the children were 8, 12, and 15 years old, included scores on a local language vocabulary test, math test scores, and the number of years of schooling the child had completed.

The study found that both persistent and more severe food insecurity were associated with lower test scores and fewer years of schooling completed. In fact, this study showed that even the mildest form of food insecurity is detrimental to children’s educational outcomes.

This held true even after the team took into account a variety of children and family characteristics that might have explained the association.

For years of schooling, researchers looked at how many fewer years of schooling children in food-insecure households completed than those in food-secure households.

The researchers took the average total scores on the vocabulary and math tests for all children in the study. They then looked at how far children in food-insecure households were from this general average and compared the numbers for children in food-secure households.

The study found:

  • Children from persistently food-insecure households ended up completing 0.19 fewer years of schooling than children from food-secure households.
  • Moderate/severe food insecurity was associated with completing 0.22 fewer years of schooling.
  • Children from families with persistent food insecurity had lower test scores – by 0.15 standard deviations for vocabulary and 0.17 standard deviations for mathematics.
  • Moderate/severe food insecurity was associated with lower test scores, by 0.13 standard deviations for vocabulary and mathematics.

“These values ​​may seem small on an order of magnitude,” said Dr. Thomas Argau, Postdoctoral Research Assistant, who led the study. “However, previous research shows that the average effect of educational interventions in the Global South to improve learning often does not exceed 0.10.” Standard. Deviation; this is considered a strong influence.”

The study provides evidence that studies focusing on food insecurity should consider categorization of food insecurity scores to show how important different levels of severity are.

It adds value to the scant literature on this topic from the Global South, particularly for adolescents who are known as the ‘forgotten population’ in food insecurity research. It also sets the stage for similar studies from the Global South, providing evidence for policymakers to find proactive solutions to address food insecurity during the early stages of children’s development.

We say that children are the future and education is the key to opening doors. We must therefore work proactively to seek options that can reduce the burden of food insecurity on children and help children focus on their education.”


Dr.. Thomas Argau, Postdoctoral Research Associate

Lead researcher of the Food Security for a Just Future project, Dr Jasmin Flederjohan, from Lancaster University, said: “Children’s education outcomes can have lasting effects across the course of life. And when household food insecurity means children reduce their food intake, it can lead to Micronutrient deficiencies impair cognitive development and affect children’s ability to concentrate in class.

“But, even then, when children are in food-insecure households, they may experience cuts in spending on school fees and supplies. They may cut back on school time or skip school to earn money for the family. They may suffer stigma, and they may be affected. parents’ distress. Our findings highlight the extent to which food insecurity affects children’s learning and educational development.”

source:

Journal reference:

Argaw, T.L., et al. (2023). Children’s educational outcomes and the persistence and severity of household food insecurity in India: Longitudinal evidence from the lives of young adults. Nutrition Journal. doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.02.008.

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